April 29, 2002 Syracuse still hot spot Population up 9,000 in 12 years By DAVID TROESTER_ Standard-Examiner staff SYRACUSE - Despite a slowing of residential construction, Syracuse City remains the top spot for new-home building in Northern Utah. The Davis County community issued 110 single-family home building permits for the first quarter of 2002. The next closest community was Clearfield, which issued 81 building permits. While Syracuse's total number of single-family permits dropped 25 percent, growth remains robust. "We've seen a phenomenal growth rate the last four or five years," said Michael Moyes, Syracuse city admin-istrator. He said good planning has helped accommodate the burgeoning Single-family home construction First quarter of 2002 vs. first quarter of 2001: Weber Building permits Davis Building permits County_1st Q '02 1st Q '01 County 1st Q '02 1st Q '01 North Ogden 31 11 Syracuse 110 147 Ogden 25 36 Clearfield 81 59 Farr West 22 15 Clinton 68 49 Roy 22 96 Layton 56 70 Unincorporated 15 13 Kaysville 36 25 Plain City 12 14 Farmington 27 16 Pleasant View 12 10 South Weber 22 16 Harrisville 10 12 West Point 17 14 West Haven 10 10 Woods Cross 15 52 South Ogden 5 3 Bountiful 13 18 Marriott-Slaterville 3 0 Centerville 6 5 Riverdale 3 14 North Salt Lake 6 16 Huntsville 1 0 Fruit Heights 3 5 Washington Terrace 1 1 West Bountiful 3 5 Unitah 0 1 Unincorporated 1 5 (Liberty, Eden, East Huntsville and Uintah Sunset 0 1 Bench included in unincorporated) Source: Construction Monitor & Standard-Examiner population. There are about 13,000 residents in Syracuse, up from about 4,000 in 1990. Once Syracuse is fully built out, the city's seven square acres will accommodate an estimated 40,000. "The more growth you see, Standard-Examiner the more the country seems to be disappearing," Moyes said. "People say they like to move here because you have the rural feeling and still it's close to services in Layton." In all of Davis County, a total of 464 single-family building permits were issued in the first quarter of 2002. That represents a drop of 8 percent from the first quarter of 2001. In Weber County, the number of single-family building permits issued in the first quarter plunged 27 percent to 172. Roy saw the largest decline. Single-family building permits in that city dropped 77 percent to 22 permits. "I think the decline in building permits in Weber and Davis counties is attributable to the general downturn in the economy," said April Bench, executive officer of Northern Wasatch Home Builders Association. Still, home construction overall remains fairly steady, she said. Bench expects an upswing in construction for the second quarter. "It picks up in the summer months because people are more apt to go looking for new homes in summer," she said. You can reach Business Editor David Troester at 625-4244 or dtroester@stan-dard.net. 36